The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 05, May, 1879Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 05, May, 1879
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
—In commenting on the Windom Emigration Scheme, the _Atlanta
Constitution_ says: “In Georgia the colored people are doing as
well as could be expected. If they are to remain citizens they
ought to be educated, and they ought to have constantly before
them the example of the whites. They are beginning to appreciate
the responsibilities of citizenship; they are thrifty enough to
accumulate property, and they are anxious to take advantage of
the educational opportunities afforded them.” The colored man is
valuable to the South. The white people know it. The above is
important testimony to his worth and increasing usefulness.
—The Bainbridge _Democrat_ gives, unwittingly, testimony to the
industry and thrift of the colored laborer: “The ambition of every
negro man is to have a home of his own; and it is no mean ambition;
yet, if something is not done, this generation will live to see
the day when this class of labor cannot be obtained at any price;
and if we cannot supply it with labor just as good, there will be
no other alternative for the white man but to ‘go.’ People have no
use for lands when there is nobody to cultivate them; and as the
colored people set up in their little cabins upon their poor and
sickly lands, just in proportion will our finest and best acres
depreciate in value. This is a question big with interest to our
people, beside which others sink into nothingness.” Application:
The colored laborer is becoming a settled, independent property
holder, and his own master. When he can work, buy and sell for
himself, and own his cabin, he is emancipated from domineering
dictation. Whoever owns his own labor must control the market.
—After all, there is an inclination to block this aspiration of
the colored man. The _Atlanta Constitution_ holds that it is an
open question whether this effort should be encouraged. It holds
that there are two solutions of the labor problem which is now
vexing the farmers. Either the negro must be made comfortable as a
tenant, or he must be encouraged to provide himself a home. Either
something like the English tenant system must be adopted or the
system of small farms will prevail. There is something peculiarly
attractive in this English system. Whether it could be made to fit
the peculiar needs of the present and the contingencies of the
future, is a question that the editor is not just now prepared to
discuss.
—The colored man being an American citizen, it is improbable
that the English tenant system can be made to fit his case. The
rights of citizenship will secure to him the rights of labor.
The homestead delivers him from serfdom, and secures to him the
independent ballot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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